The House panel said in a statement that it wants to hear from technology companies âto better understand how Russia used online tools and platforms to sow discord in and influence our election.â â" Reuters

Facebook Inc, Twitter Inc and Alphabet Incâs Google are set to face intense public scrutiny from US House and Senate panels as investigato rs focus on social mediaâs role in Russiaâs efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

Executives from all three companies were asked to appear before the Senate committee Nov 1, while the House panel requested them next month, according to aides from both committees. The hearings come amid frustration from some senior lawmakers with what they say is Facebookâs less-than-forthcoming initial response, which has the company and its Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg in particular playing defence.

Facebook has disclosed that Russians appeared to have bought about US$100,000 (RM423,150) in election-related ads last year. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate committee, said Wednesday the panel still hasnât received enough details from Facebook on about 3,000 of those ads.

âI gave them credit last week when they came forward, but itâs really important they put time, energy and resources into this in a meaningful way,â Warn er said on Sept 27. âThe sooner they get us the information, the sooner we get a full accounting.â

Zuckerberg defended his company in a post on Wednesday, rejecting an accusation by President Donald Trump earlier in the day that Facebook was against his campaign.

âAfter the election, I made a comment that I thought the idea misinformation on Facebook changed the outcome of the election was a crazy idea,â he wrote. âCalling that crazy was dismissive and I regret it. This is too important an issue to be dismissive.â

Disclosure requirements

Lawmakers are concerned not just with the last yearâs activities but with preventing efforts to target future elections. Some Democrats have called for social-media companies to face disclosure requirements for political advertising.

Zuckerberg, in his post, said: âWe will do our part to defend against nation states attempting to spread misinformation and subvert elections .â

The House panel said in a statement that it wants to hear from technology companies âto better understand how Russia used online tools and platforms to sow discord in and influence our election.â

Robert Mueller, who was appointed by the US Justice Department to serve as special counsel to investigate possible collusion between the Russian government and Trumpâs campaign, has also made Facebook a focus of his probe. Officials from Twitter are set to meet behind closed doors Thursday with investigators from the Senate intelligence committee.

Documents expected

A House committee member said Wednesday that Facebook is expected to deliver to the committee an estimated 3,000 documents next week, but that it hasnât yet done so. Two panel members said officials of Twitter also have been talking to House Intelligence staffers, but that no meeting with members has yet occurred or been set.

Separately, former Trump Whi te House and campaign aide Boris Epshteyn is set to be interviewed behind closed doors Thursday by the House Intelligence panel, said people familiar with the committeeâs schedule.

Russian-born Epshteyn, 34, most recently served as special assistant to the president in charge of surrogate operations before leaving the position in March. He has been chief political analyst at Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc since April.

Epshteyn had previously confirmed that he had received a request for information by the committee and that he would appear voluntarily. The date wasnât set until this week, the people said. Lawmakers wouldnât say what they want to ask Epshteyn, who emigrated to the US with his family when he was a child. â" Bloomberg